It appears the five-member majority on the St. Louis County School Board is content to stonewall and threaten residents of the district, rather than deal openly and honestly with their concerns.
It’s difficult to draw any other conclusion from their performance Wednesday night at the Cook School. While I give credit to those board members who did show up for what they likely knew would be a contentious meeting, their refusal to respond to the most serious questions raised is extremely troubling. The concerns of area residents aren’t based on paranoid fantasy. They are based on a plain and logical reading of the district’s own budget documents. The board approved cuts in June of last year that significantly improved their budget situation, yet they continued to use outdated financial information, both in submissions to the state and to the public, right up until the Dec. 8 election.
Residents at Wednesday’s meeting wanted to know why. Instead of an answer they got a lecture from board chair Bob Larson, during which he suggested the 200-plus people in the room really didn’t care about education. That just made people angrier, and with good reason.
You would think that the board might be interested in asking some questions of their own. They’ve now seen the information suggesting that Johnson Controls presented inaccurate and misleading information, not just to state officials and the public, but to the board itself. If I were on that board, I’d want an explanation from Johnson Controls. But the board majority isn’t interested in exploring the issue.
And they’re not just resorting to stonewalling in their effort to ignore the facts. They’re using the tried and true tactics of intimidation. During Wednesday’s meeting, when board member Zelda Bruns began to talk about her own concerns about the numbers developed by Johnson Controls, board chair Larson tried to stop her from speaking. After some encouragement from the audience, Zelda continued and made a heartfelt apology for not speaking out sooner.
Larson also threw his weight around after the meeting, when he suggested I had accused Johnson Controls of intentionally padding the numbers to get state approval of the project. As the 200-plus witnesses there saw, I had raised the question, but never made a direct accusation in regards to intent.
As for Larson’s intent, it was clear. I should keep my mouth shut or I could face a SLAPP suit from an army of Johnson Controls lawyers. Litigation is certainly one of the hazards of challenging a Fortune 500 company, but in Minnesota, filing a SLAPP suit (which stands for Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) could get the company in further hot water. Using attorneys to stifle critics is not just unethical, it’s illegal in Minnesota, and would open Johnson Controls to an immediate countersuit. As for the merits of their case, I’d be more than happy to take our documentation before a judge. Truth is still considered a reasonable defense after all. And we’ve got the documentation for everything we’ve claimed.
Of course, the fireworks on Wednesday weren’t the first whiff of retaliation. At the school board’s Feb. 4 meeting, board member Darrell Bjerklie made a motion to take away $1 million in already-approved capital funding from Tower, Cook, and Orr in the event that construction plans were put on hold in those areas.
That suggestion got Zelda Bruns off her seat to take issue with the suggestion. She noted that the areas Bjerklie wanted to penalize were going to pay 75 percent of the cost of the bond measure. “And now we’re to be punished, I guess, for speaking out for what we think is right,” said Bruns. While Bjerklie later claimed his motion was not meant to be retaliatory, that certainly wasn’t the impression it left with many in the audience.
Apparently, with the facts on our side, the district doesn’t have a more constructive response. It’s about time they figure one out.
It’s one thing to ignore legitimate questions from the public. But this whole issue is likely headed to less forgiving venues, where direct questions can’t be met with lectures and diversions. If school board members feel the heat now, it’s likely to get a whole lot hotter.
It's becoming very clear that education never was, or ever will be, a top priority for many of the consolidation plan opponents. Rather, some sort of hostile takeover of the schools in the name of economic development is the end game. Whether or not our kids get a decent education is far down on the list. An after thought, if at all.
It's such a pity that kids in Cook, Orr, and Tower are being caught in the cross-fire. They deserve much better.
I've come to the conclusion that plan_de_vida is simply a bomb-thrower, kind of like Glenn Beck. Just shoot from the hip, and make accusations, without any information or understanding. All snark all the time. It's not even worth trying to address plan_de_vida's accusations. Not worth the time.
plan_de_vida may be a bomb thrower. Glenn Beck is not. He has a highly popular radio talk show on WMNT 650 AM, he uncovered the bomb thrower tactics of ACORN, he has two popular best sellers on the New York Times book list and from what I understand, he is the fastest rising television talk show host. Helmberger is wrong about Beck or maybe he is just a left-wing liberal wacko, jealous of Beck's success.
This is just one more reason that people shy away from working with orrcountry. He routinely attacks those with whom he should try to work constructively. I can't figure the guy out. It's just strange behavior.
orrcountry,
I was planning to stay out of the frey.
Why are you attacking Marshall and Jodi? They have worked their tails off to legally find a way to stop this madness. We should be banding together against ISD 2142 and Johnson Controls not attacking each other. I refuse to sit and watch you attack 2 of the hardest working people I know. They are not only talking the talk they are walking the walk.
Thank You Marshall and Jodi for working so hard and asking the tough questions.
Your son graduates next year. You easily could have let the status quo happen. You instead felt the inaccurate information ISD 2142 and Johnson Controls used to sell a half baked plan needed to be exposed. You worked hard to find accurate numbers, having to push hard to finally receive public information from the ISD 2142 District office. You have energized us. We have been given the facts needed to fight a plan meant to destroy children and steal education from our kids. Our kids deserve a education. They deserve a plan that includes them and puts them in a position to succeed. Mr. Larson and the board ignorred our kids, they KNOWINGLY sent inaccurate numbers to the State of MN education Dept and signed off on them saying they were true. Every taxpayer in ISD 2142 should be asking for them to explain themselves as well as asking for criminal charges to be filed.
SHAME on ISD 2142 and its leaders. You have failed our children, our communities and the taxpayers who pay your salaries.
Marshall and Jodi and Tom have done an outstanding job with their research and diligence to our joint effort. I always have and will continue to applaud those efforts. Greentea is right, we do need to work together. But if I remember correctly, I think Marshall and Jodi cast the first stones. We have so much talent in our communities that we need to reach out to these folks. We have engineers, accountants, teachers, attorneys, small business owners, community activists and others who, if are (or had been) invited to join our mission, we could be even further along our path. I have always been for open involvement since I feel the best decisions come from brainstorming and group decision making.
We already have 5 school board directors that are ignoring our involvement, so why do we criticize their behavior, when those who have emerged as leaders for our cause that have ignored the volunteer contributions of others who wish to pitch in. I mean, Bob Larson apparently made accusatory remarks to Marshall after the Cook meeting. I don't think Marshall felt good about those remarks about him. I will admit, I have always been a champion of the "underdog" and when I see or sense others assuming power and control over a cause, I react in hopes that empathic feelings will be expressed by the party with power and an open hand or apologies will be extended. I didn't like the way Dennis Udovich was handled at our meeting Wednesday night. Maybe his style didn't fit some people's vision, but he wanted to help save the schools...all the schools. And many people shared that point of view with me.
So I can move forward, if others realize that we all put our pants on one leg at a time. Let's open our process to the fullest extent possible. We are too small an area to not include everyone and their ideas and help. Can we work constructively...absolutely. Can we win this battle...absolutely. Have some of us made interpersonal mistakes...absolutely. A little bit of humility from all of us could go a long way. Everybody go stand in front of the mirror. I'll go first. OK?
Thank you orrcountry. Its time we put personal issues to the wayside and band together.
The facts are the ISD 2142 school board, administration and Johnson Controls have used division to push through a plan with no educational merit. They have put together a group of supporters who have no idea how much they themselves have been lied to and deceived. Johnson Controls is looking for a big payday and in order to get that big payday they have used half truths and lies with little thought to educational benefit or feasiblity. Look no farther then Duluth to see exactly how JCI operates. I hope those same supporters remember this when our kids leave ISD 2142 for other school districts and schools such as Babbitt will not be able to support themselves. I also hope they remember that JCI had padded the enrollment numbers and the schools were shown to have students that are not even in ISD 2142 schools now. Johnson Controls will be long gone. Along with the 12 to 15 million dollars that they will receive from the contract with ISD 2142. This contract was agreed upon with absolutely no bidding process. Their buddies at Kraus Anderson will make pretty much the same payday once again without a bidding process. These 2 HUGE paydays are thanks in part to some behind the scenes work ( if you want to call giving money and paying for vote yes parties work) in the months leading up to the special election. I guess I have always been taught when you ask for bids you are able top get the best pricing. Giving multi million dollar contracts based on personal preference may be OK if you are spending your own money, but when spending taxpayer dollars I would this you would be pretty careful to cross those t's and dot those i's.
I believe its time we as taxpayers ask the tough questions and EXPECT answers. Its time to call our legislators, the commisioner of Education and our State Auditor. We have the proof they lied, the proof that they knew the numbers were wrong yet chose to sign off on them and submit them anyway. Its now time to make sure those who can charge the ISD 2142 administration and board with these mis steps do their job.
Greentea: Thank you for your comments and I fully agree with the body of your latest post. I have been working on this issue for a year now, organized the first task force in the Orr attendance area in early April to oppose the bond referendum as proposed. I have learned a lot about school funding in our state, about charter schools and their successes and failures, and about Johnson Controls through weekly contact with the folks in Duluth.
I received several compliments and remarks of appreciation from folks in the Orr and Cook areas for getting in front of this issue. We lost some ground last summer, when a dominant personality muscled control of the issue and focused solely on charter schools. Many in our area lost interest over the summer and our school board representative was fully on board with the district plan at that time. Fortunately we were able to salvage something of the movement in time to produce a 2 to 1 vote against. You folks in Tower-Soudan were all operating mostly off the same page throughout that period which helped on the day of the election.
I have made my conciliatory statement, I am curious now to see if Marshall too will eat crow and do the same. If he elects not to, reasonable people will conclude that the problem is not me personally. It can be defined as an unwillingness to share power and knowledge. And under those circumstances, we could lose this thing. I expect to attend and participate in the meetings with the State Auditor and especially the Commissioner of Education. Let's see if we truly are a team.
If we're talking about bombthrowers, better include Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman.
I want to ask, what plan do the opponents have to better our childrens education? They keep complaining about the numbers but I have yet to see one plan, decent or bad, come from them. What are their options? What are they planning on doing? Are they magically going to improve the schools with a wave of their wand? And Where was this wand all these years as the classes and programs and teachers all disappeared? All of this "we are going to save our schools" organization is in my opinion, too late... These same people were saying nothing when the school district was voicing these concerns more than 10 years ago. When my husband attended school in this district over 29 years ago, there were issues then....where were all these opponents with their magic plan then? We knew about the issues the district was facing then and through the years...you want to know why? Because we were interested, because we attended the meetings, because we read the minutes of the meetings we couldn't attend, because we went to conferences...This "emergency" was no surprise to us... What is a surprise is the people who finally crawled out fo the woodwork when the district finallly had to make a decision that they didn't like.....They have only themselves to blame for this situation, 64.00 a year out of my taxes for schools? That is pitiful...shameful... embarrassing...The whole area should be ashamed that they were not paying more all these years...